Growing Your Own Vegetables: An Encyclopedia of Country Living Guide (14 page)

LEGUMES

P
eas and beans are only the most familiar members of the vast
Leguminosae
family, which are characterized by clusters of fruit that mature in pods. Legumes are highly nutritious, particularly as a protein source, and easy to cultivate, harvest, and store, making them one of the most important foods on the planet.

Legumes are great for renewing soil fertility in a crop rotation following heavy feeders. Able to draw atmospheric nitrogen and fix it in nodules along their roots, legumes make a perfect green manure; their roots should always be left in place to break down or be tilled into the soil.

Peas

Peas (
Pisum sativum
) on the vine are filled with natural sugars that, like corn, quickly begin to turn to starch once they are picked, making fresh garden peas the sweetest you’ll ever taste. Choose from big peas and petit peas; dwarf bush vines and tall pole vines; spring peas, hardy “winter,” or varieties that tolerate hot weather.

English or shelling peas:
Common peas, referred to as English peas or shelling peas, are available in climbing or pole and self-supporting or bush varieties. Mature pods are picked and split to harvest the plump flavorful peas. Climbing pole peas take longer to mature and, depending on the variety being grown, require a 3- to 6-foot supporting structure; however, the larger vines yield more over a longer harvest period. Bush peas grow to just 2 to 3 feet; their additional wispy tendrils tangle and knit together to self-support the maturing plants, although in practice some propping will help conserve garden space.

Snow peas:
Harvested before the seeds inside have begun to form, the flat pods are completely edible and widely used in Asian stir-fries or eaten fresh in salads. Snow peas are available in both bush and climbing varieties.

Snap peas:
When fully mature, the juicy edible pods are filled with full-sized peas, resulting in more wonderful, unbeatable garden pea flavor without the work of shelling. Most snap pea vines require some support.

PLANTING:
Impervious to cold spring weather, peas are one of the earliest crops to go into the garden. Peas like cool nights and bright, cool days; the onset of warm weather will quickly put a stop to your harvest, so it is an advantage to get plants growing at the earliest possible date for your area. Sow seed directly in the garden 1 to 1½ inches deep, 2 to 3 inches apart, in rows 3 feet apart, providing support where necessary. The large pea seeds are easy to space when planting, so thinning is unnecessary. They’ll be 10 days to 2 weeks coming up, although the seeds are somewhat subject to rot if they are planted too many weeks before they germinate. Peas hate to dry out, so they require regular water throughout their growing season.

In areas where heat comes on early, plant bush peas, spacing seeds 2 to 3 inches apart in every direction in a row 18 to 24 inches wide. Planted in this way, the vines will knit together in a dense mass to shade and keep their roots cool; a single-row planting is vulnerable to drooping and failing in the heat.

For an earlier crop or to get a head start to beat the heat, pea seed may be presprouted. Spread them one pea deep in a shallow dish and add water until it comes halfway up the seed; when little sprouts show, plant immediately, before they rot. It is possible to get a fall crop with a second sowing once the peak of summer’s heat has abated.

HARVESTING:
Once plants have flowered, pods are quick to form and may be harvested as soon as they size up. There’s no benefit to harvesting too early, as you’ll cheat yourself of a full yield; however, if you wait even a few days too many, the peas will be yellow and hard and have lost their sweet taste. When picking, treat the vines gently, holding the plant with one hand as you pull off pods with the other. Well watered and carefully picked peas produce the best crop.

Beans

Beans (
Phaseolus vulgaris
) or “common” beans, often referred to as snap beans, may be prepared whole in the pod or shelled fresh or dried. Beans may be grown in any climate that has three frost-free months; in hot areas they may be planted in fall, winter, or spring.

PLANTING:
Bush beans grow as a low, free-standing bush and are one of the easiest vegetables to grow, as long as you respect their temperature requirements. Early plantings may rot in very wet weather, and the plants will not tolerate even the lightest frost. Sow seed around the date of your estimated last frost, 1 inch deep and 3 to 5 inches apart in rows at least 1 foot apart. Because bush beans yield their crop intensively over a short period, planting an additional row every 7 to 10 days throughout the spring will extend the harvest period. Bush beans are a good crop for short-season climates because they are not particular about soil conditions and are ready to pick in as little as 60 days.

Pole beans are a vine with no natural built-in support for their length; instead, they opportunistically twine around whatever is at hand. Training the vines up with some means of support not only keeps them from strangling nearby plants but also is an efficient use of garden space and eases picking. Any existing trellis or fence already in the garden can be used to support bean vines; the following common devices will encourage vertical growth:

◗
Poles:
Place 6- to 8-foot poles, 1 inch in diameter, to stand straight up with seeds planted at their base, or follow the common practice of leaning the poles together and tying them at the top to form a bean teepee.

◗
Post and string:
Secure a sturdy post at either end of your row of beans and string a strong cord or wire horizontally between the posts at their tops and bottoms. Affix twine and string up and down between the wires to create a series of vertical runs for the bean vines to climb.

Plant the beans at the base of their support, 3 to 4 inches apart in every direction, in early summer when frost danger is completely past and the soil has begun to warm. Pole beans require a richer soil to feed the tall leafy vines; site them where they won’t shade other vegetables, and give them plenty of room.

HARVESTING:
Once your bush green beans start, they will bear for 4 to 5 weeks if given regular water and kept thoroughly picked. Pole beans flower and set pods from the bottom of the plant up and will continue to do so as long as the plants are well-picked until the first frost. Handle the vines gently when picking to avoid damaging the plants.

Snap beans
are picked and eaten, pod and all, before their seeds have begun to mature. Most are green, but there are also purple-and yellow-podded varieties of both bush and pole beans. Wax beans are yellow with a smooth, almost translucent pod and a mild, delicate flavor. Both yellow and purple beans make for easy picking, with their bright color obvious among the leafy, green vines, and they lend an ornamental quality to the vegetable garden. Purple varieties are lovely, but be aware they turn green when cooked.

Snap beans are the most tender if they are picked before the seeds have begun to swell their pods. Some people prefer to pick them quite young and slender, in the manner of the French haricots vert. Romano beans are a European variety with large, flat, meaty pods and a distinctive flavor.

Shell beans
are grown specifically for their large seeds, which are removed from the pods and either prepared fresh as green shell beans or allowed to dry and shelled for long-term storage. Nearly all shell beans are bush types; the only difference in cultivation is in their harvest methods.

SOME SHELL BEAN VARIETIES

◗
Black beans
are Latin America’s favorite bean. Also known as turtle beans, these small, glossy black beans grow on semivining bushy plants and require a warm growing season 85 to 115 days long.

◗
Flageolet
and
horticultural beans
are bred for their large seeds, which are typically harvested at the fresh green shell stage, 60 to 75 days. They can also be dried for longer storage.

◗
Great Northern beans
are big and white. Bushy plants produce a heavy yield in 90 days making this a good shell bean for short-season areas; they can also be harvested as green shell beans.

◗
Kidney beans
are Mexico’s most popular bean and the traditional chili bean. A white-seeded variety is called a cannellini bean. With a relatively short 95-day growing season, the kidney bean has been called the easiest dried shell bean to cultivate.

◗
Pinto beans
are small and speckled and require a warm growing season, 85 to 105 days long. They are generally pole beans.

Other legumes

Fava beans
(
Vicia faba
), also referred to as fabas (southern Europe) or broad beans (England), are easy to grow in a wet, cool climate. Favas are hardy down to 20°F, but dislike hot summers. Plant fava beans in early spring, spacing seed 4 to 5 inches apart, 1½ to 2 inches deep, in rows 12 to 36 inches apart. Bush-like plants, 3 to 5 feet tall, begin to produce plump pods 6 to 12 inches long in May and June. In the Deep South and mild coastal regions, fava beans may be planted in the fall to overwinter and begin producing much earlier in the new year. Following the initial harvest, cut plants back to 2 inches and fertilize for a secondary late summer crop.
Note: There is a very rare inherited sensitivity to fava beans and their pollen, found mostly in males of Mediterranean ancestry. This allergy, if triggered, can result in a mild to severely toxic reaction.

Runner beans
(
Phaseolus coccineus
or
P. multifloris
) are easily identified by their lush vines, colorful flowers, and “Jack in the Beanstalk” seeds, which are deep purple pink speckled in black. The runner is actually a perennial but is grown as an annual in temperate zones. They come in orange-, scarlet-, white-, and red-and-white-flowered varieties. Sow seed 2 inches deep and 6 inches apart in double rows, one on each side of a climbing support; they’ll grow 10 to 12 feet high and are good for screening. They thrive in hot, humid weather and need plenty of water during their growing season. Runners can be eaten as snap beans when picked quite young and boiled or steamed. Once the pods fill out with seed they may be harvested as green shell beans or left to dry for winter storage.

Pigeon peas
(
Cajanus cajun
) are an excellent garden choice if you live in the frost-free South. Woody shrubs to 8 feet tall take at least 5 months to start bearing but then will continue to produce their pretty yellow flowers and pods of small, but highly nutritious seeds for up to 5 years in a sunny location. Pigeon pea plants are dense enough that some people grow them as an edible hedge.

Southern beans or peas
(
Vigna sinensis
) originated in the world’s tropical regions, but can be grown in mild but warm regions, basically requiring the same climate as corn. In the United States black- and yellow-eyed peas and crowders are southern favorites that thrive in the warm days and nights of that growing region.

Soybeans
(
Glycine max
) are the lowest-starch, highest-protein bean, making them a vegetarian favorite. Soybeans need heat to produce well, although some chill-tolerant kinds will produce modestly in more temperate zones. Because soybeans take a long time to mature, with a relatively small yield, homegrown crops are best enjoyed as a green shell bean, called edamame, for a high-protein snack food.